


Will This Fire Consume or Refine?

by themutesinger



Series: Raptor Your Heart Out [1]
Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Multi, lesbians and gays, owen has a sister who also works at the park, raptors being awesome, so pretty much everything you'd ever need, technically Zach is Bi and Owen is Pan so they aren't gay but they have a gay relationship, the violence is pretty much canon typical, zach is older and not such an ass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 22:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4455593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themutesinger/pseuds/themutesinger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jurassic world is an adventure for the whole family... until the latest attraction breaks free and family becomes rare commodity that you could lose at any time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Boys and a Raptor Walk Into a Theme Park

**Author's Note:**

> Fan art on tumblr made me ship Zachwen and now I'm writing a Jurassic World Fanfiction. I hope its not too terrible :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: I know have a cover and a playlist! You can find them here:https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfy9bugK_LjmsbY53g4LlmdaOFgRSRk0s  
> And here: http://themutesinger.tumblr.com/image/126485758331

Despite not wanting to go to Isla Nublar to see an Aunt that hadn’t bothered to visit them in seven years, Zach is having an alright time. The dinosaurs are pretty cool, the scenery is breathtaking and thanks to Gray being a know-it-all he probably got more information out of the exhibits than anyone else. It also has the benefit of distracting Gray from their parent’s impending divorce, so he can’t complain about that. In fact, besides Aunt Claire being too busy to spend time with them their first day on the island has been pretty perfect. That is until Gray sees a baby Achelousaurus and runs right into one of the roads park workers use to travel between exhibits- at the same time a man on a motorcycle is driving by. “Gray!”

Zach doesn’t have much time to think, let alone process what exactly he’s doing and so he dives into the road, pushing his brother, who is standing stock still in fear, out of the way of the oncoming vehicle, and then covering his head with his arms. He barely hears the screeching of tires over the rushing of blood in his ears and startled when he didn’t feel hard rubber tires crushing the bones in his back. He sits up in surprise, searching for his brother first, and breathes a heavy sigh of relief when he sees Gray crawl over to him and he wraps dusty arms around his waist. Then dirt-stained jeans take over his vision, and he looks up to find a broad-shouldered man looking down at him, partially obscured by the sunlight filtering through the trees and into Zach’s eyes.

“Are you two alright?”

“Yes, we are. Thank you for stopping in time.” Zach shakes Gray off and manages to stand on legs wobbly from fear and adrenaline. He helps his brother up, then turns to face the man properly. The first thing he notices is that the man still has an inch or three of height on him, the second is the man’s firm musculature, and the last is a cocky tweak to his smile that Zach finds incredibly attractive.

“You really outta be more careful kid, your brother could have gotten seriously injured there.” Gray nods from where he’s still clinging to Zach, uttering a quiet apology.

“He’s normally a lot more observant. He just has a bit of a one-track mind when it comes to dinosaurs.” The man smiles, running a hand over tousled wavy blond hair.

“I was like that when I was a kid too. Say, we’re going to do a bit of a drill with my raptors today, would the two of you like to come and watch?” Gray lights up immediately, tugging on his brother’s sleeve.

“Can we Zach? Please, please, please?”

“Alright! Relax, we’ll go! What time should we be there?”

“2:30. If I’m not around, just say that Owen Grady gave you special permission to be there.”

“Alright cool,” Zach replies, offering Owen his hand. He smiles when the man’s calloused hand engulfs his, and watches him mount his bike and drive off. Then he turns to his brother. “Gray, you have to be more careful! You could have gotten seriously hurt!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you mad or get you hurt.”

“I’m not mad, you just made me worried. Now, let’s get lunch before we go see the raptors, kay?”

“Okay.”

\---

Owen definitely was not authorized to invite civilians to watch the demonstration for the investors; in fact he could probably lose his job. He didn’t know what came over him, but at the sight of eyes like the sweetest chocolate peering up at him from under heavy lashes he just had to say something to keep that gaze on him. And so, here he is, nervously tapping his foot against the ground like a jittery rabbit waiting for the young man and his brother to show up so he could sequester them away safely with Barry. He stays that way until he hears excited babbling about paleontologists saying that real raptors likely would have looked more like birds, feathers and all, and spots a head of soft brown waves, followed by one with unruly blond curls. He leans against the raptor paddock, pasting a cocky grin on his face, looking surer of himself then he felt. The kid spots him first, waving wildly and pointing him out to his brother, who waves with less enthusiasm and a friendly smile. “Glad you two could make it, and early too,” Owen says, crossing his arms in front of him and peering at his watch, reading 2:15.

“We came right after lunch, I wanted to have time to spare in case we got lost or something,” Zach replies, sticking his hands in his pockets and shrugging.

“Smart thinking. Alright, follow me.” He jogs around to the stairs, leading the boys up to the walkways above the paddock, spotting Barry talking to the newest hire. “Barry!” The man turns quickly, smile turning confused as he takes in the two standing behind Owen. “Barry, this is Zach and…”

“Gray!” the kid supplies helpfully.

“Right, Gray. Anyways they’re going to be watching the demonstration today, and I was hoping they could stay with you while I’m working with the raptors. You know them better than anyone but me and Livy so they’d learn a lot more with you, right?” Barry’s glare says that he’ll pay for this somehow later, but he nods his agreement.

“Alright boys, come stand over here, the raptors should be out soon.” Owen watches as Barry leads them to a wider platform, grinning when he notices Zach looking back at him. He slips his clicker out of his pocket and presses the button as he walks onto the longest walkway, smiling when his girls show up right away. He takes a deep breath, and then starts the demonstration.

\---

The demonstration went well, perfect almost. Not even Hoskins being an idiot could ruin his good mood, especially not with the look of impressed awe on Zach’s face. He picks up the feed bucket, intending to talk to Zach before he feeds his girls when he hears “Pig loose! Pig loose!” and turns just in time to see the newbie get knocked over the rail and into the raptor paddock. He sees the kid scramble backwards and hits the button to open the cage door, sliding under it as Barry screams for him to stop. He holds his hand up as A.C.U trains guns on his raptors. “Oh no, no, no. Hold your fire! Do not fire. Put twelve amps in these animals and they’re never gonna trust me again.” He steps between the boy and the raptors, one hand held in front of him, moving slowly to keep the raptors at bay and stop them from attacking. As it is, they snap and snarl at him, trying to get past him in order to reach the new snack that fell into their territory. “Blue, stand down. Stand down.” He makes sure Barry pulls the newbie out of the paddock, keeping one eye on his girls, when blue snaps at him. “Hey, hey! What did I just say?” he pulls both hands up as he backs towards the door, sensing delta creeping up behind him. “Delta I see you! Back up!” He sighs in relief as the snarls decrease and the raptors movements slow in time with his. “Okay, good. That’s good. Charlie! Stay right there. Good. Close the gate.”

“Are you crazy?” Barry yells through the bars, eyeing the raptors warily.

“Hey, just trust me.”

“Close the gate!” The newbie cries from his spot on the ground, voice cracking with fear. Barry whispers a swear and hits the button, backing away in time for Owen to dash towards the gate and slide under it right before it closed, the raptors ramming into it after him. Owen pants, heart racing and looks up to see wide brown eyes through the front gate set into a face pale with worry. He tries to smile reassuringly at Zach then pulls himself up, looking down at the newbie.

“You’re the new guy right?”

“Yeah.”

“You ever wonder why there was a job opening? Don’t ever turn your back to the cage.” The newbie’s face pales and Owen sighs before helping him up, and then walks to the front gate.

“That was insane! Are you alright?” Zach asks, one hand on his brother’s shoulder and one reaching out to rest on Owen’s forearm. Owen pulls on one of his signature cocky grins and takes the young man’s hand in his.

“I’m fine kid, you don’t need to worry about me. I’ve been with these raptors since Day 1, they probably wouldn’t have hurt me. It was that guy they were after.” Zach scrunches his nose up at being called a kid, but a faint flush rises in his cheeks when he looks at the hand Owen has wrapped around his.

“It was still super brave!” Gray says.

“Well thank you, little man,” Owen replies, holding out a fist for a fist bump, which Gray gives almost immediately.

“It was pretty impressive,” Zach adds with a smile, then slips his hand into his pocket, pulling out a slip of paper. He moves away from his brother, then slides it into one of the pockets of Owen’s vest. “ How about you give me a call and maybe we can have dinner tomorrow?” He keeps his hand on Owen’s chest, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. Owen’s mouth dries up and he has to swallow before answering.

“Sounds like a plan.” Zach’s smile brightens even more and Owen can’t help but smile in return. Then Zach turns to his brother, who is pretending to sort through the pack he carries on his hip, and squeezes Owen’s hand before letting go, walking back to his brother and wrapping an arm around him.

“You said you wanted to ride the hamster balls, right?”

“Yeah! Can we go now?”

“Of course!” Gray punches the air in excitement, then turns to wave to Owen.

“Bye Mr. Grady, thanks for letting us watch the raptors!”

“No problem kid!” Zach waves as well, before walking away, bumping his brother with his hip as they go, and pretending to falter when his brother bumps him back. Once he cannot see them anymore Owen turns back to the cage, finding Barry watching him with a knowing look in his eyes.

“I see now, you invited them to impress Zach.”

“Shut up Barry.” Owen grabs the feed bucket again and passes it off to Barry, who’s still laughing at him. “I have to go fix my bike, feed the raptors.”

“Have fun with that! And give that boy a call while you’re at it!”

“Yeah, yeah. See you later Barry.”

\---

Of course, he couldn’t just fix his bike in peace, he had to get a visit from Ms. I-have-to-be-in-control-at-all-times. She had no concept of the animals in the park beyond the revenue they brought in. Yes, she is running a business, but there is a line between work and life that she hasn’t seemed to figure out yet.

“Mr. Grady? I need you to come take a look at something.”

“Why are you calling me Mr. Grady?” Owen asks with a frown, they had gone out before so the formality was unnecessary.

“Owen.” Claire says, correcting herself. “If you're not too busy.”

“I'm pretty busy,” Owen replies, tinkering with his engine as he contemplates what he should say to Zach when he calls him.

“We have an attraction.”

“Ha! That's not what you said the last time I saw you,” Owen says with a chuckle, smiling when Claire starts to get worked up.

“I'm talking about the dinosaurs, Mr. Grady.”

“Owen.”

“A new species we've... made,” Claire says trying to swat a large mosquito away from her head.

“You just went and made a new dinosaur?” Owen asks, grabbing the mosquito out of the air with a smug grin that Claire pointedly ignores.

“Yeah, actually. It’s kind of what we do here. The exhibit opens to the public in three weeks. Mr. Masrani wanted me to consult with you.”

“You wanna consult here or... in my bungalow?” He gets a full on glare for that and chuckles. “Relax; I’m just messing with you. Besides, I have a hot date tomorrow.” That seems to actually shock her for a moment before she shakes her head to clear it.

“We'd like you to evaluate the paddock for vulnerabilities.”

“Why me?” Owen finds a rag to wipe the grease off of his fingers and gives her a raised eyebrow.

“I guess Mr. Masrani thinks, since you're able to control the Raptors...” Owen cuts her off with a sigh.

“It's all about control with you. I don't control the Raptors. It's a relationship that's based on mutual respect. That's why you and I never had a second date.” He walks back to his bike to put his tools away, Claire following with an indignant huff.

“Excuse me? I never wanted a second date.”

“Who prints out an itinerary for a night out?”

“I'm an organized person.”

“What kind of a diet doesn't allow tequila?”

“All of them, actually. And what kind of a man shows up to a date in board shorts?”

“It's Central America. It's hot.” Claire pinches the bridge of her nose, breathing deeply

“Okay, okay. Can we just focus on the asset, please?”

“The asset?” Owen scoffs. “Look, I get it. You're in charge out here. You gotta make a lot of tough decisions. It's probably easier to pretend these animals are just numbers on a spreadsheet. But they're not. They're alive.”

“I'm fully aware they're alive,” Claire retorts snappily, and Owen has to hide his smile. Getting Claire riled up is both too easy and overly hilarious.

“You might have made them in a test tube, but they don't know that. They're thinking, "I gotta eat, I gotta hunt. I gotta...” Owen punches the air in an obscene gesture that merely makes Claire roll her eyes at him. “You can relate to at least one of those things. Right?” Owen winks at her and she moves closer to him, looking up at him with a fierce light in her eyes and smiles.

“I’ll be in the car.” She starts to walk away, then moves back, staring pointedly at Owen’s sweat and dirt stained t-shirt. “You might want to change your shirt. They're very sensitive to smell.”

Claire Dearing might be uptight and a slight work-a-holic, but she is definitely still a force to be reckoned with.


	2. In the Eye of the Indominus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I'm really sorry this is a couple days late, but I got really busy... But the plus side is I'm almost half-way through Chapter 3!

The cage for the new dinosaur was clear on the other side of the island, in a cleared out area in the middle of dense forest, gravel roads surrounding a high, concrete-walled structure. He gets out of Claire’s white car (much like her wardrobe it seems) and estimates it at, at least forty feet tall. The extreme isolation and height of the walls alone make him skeptical about what kind of dinosaur they’ve got in there, and the slightly nervous twitch to Claire’s movements don’t help any. “We've been pre-booking tickets for months. The park needs a new attraction every few years... in order to reinvigorate the public's interest. Kind of like the space program,” Claire says as she climbs the stairs to the viewing area, glancing back to make sure Owen is following her. “Corporate felt genetic modification would up the wow factor.”

“They’re dinosaurs. Wow enough.”

“Not according to our focus groups. The Indominus rex makes us relevant again.”

“The Indominus rex,” Owen says, amusement creeping into his voice. Claire turns to face him at the top of the stairs, her glare making reappearance.

“We needed something scary and easy to pronounce. You should hear a four-year-old try to say ‘Archaeornithomimus’,” She snaps, typing in the code to unlock the door.

“You should hear you try to say it,” Owen grumbles under his breath. The observation room is bland and white, with a glass wall and a small corner where the surveillance footage is reviewed. The Paddock supervisor glances up as they walk in, sandwich half-hanging from his mouth. “So what's this thing made of?”

“The base genome is a T. rex. The rest is classified.” The dinosaur is nowhere to be seen in the thick foliage of the paddock, and Claire scans the visible space.

“You made a new dinosaur but you don't even know what it is?” Owen asks incredulously, shaking his head.

“The lab delivers us finished assets, and we show them to the public.” Claire grows impatient of staring at nothing and taps at the glass. “Can we drop a steer, please?”

“How long has the animal been in here?”

“All its life.”

“Never seen anything outside of these walls?”

“We can't exactly walk it.” Claire says as the crane drops down, a bloody cow carcass attached to the hook.

“And you feed it with that?” he asks, pointing to the steer.

“Is there a problem?” Claire snaps, eyes darting from the window to Owen and back again, clearly worried.

“Animals raised in isolation aren't always the most functional.”

“Your Raptors are born in captivity.”

“With siblings. They learn social skills. And I imprint on them when they're born. There's trust. The only positive relationship this animal has is with that crane. At least she knows that means food.”

“So, she needs a friend. We should schedule play-dates? That sort of thing?”

“Probably not a good idea,” Owen says shaking his head.

“Where is it?” Claire says, worry starkly apparent below her agitation.

“Is it in the basement? Is there a downstairs? Maybe it's in the rec room.” His sarcasm probably isn’t appreciated, but it might prevent Claire from worrying.

“It was just here. We were just here.” Or not. She types something into a small computer module in front of the window, and the cameras scan for thermal radiation. They all turn up negative.

“Oh, shit.” Owen whispers, staring at long, criss-crossed claw marks in the concrete wall of the paddock, as if something tried to claw its way over the wall.

“That doesn't make any sense. These doors haven't been opened in weeks,” the supervisor says, finally putting his sandwich down and scanning his screens for any hint of movement.

“Were those claw marks always there?” Owen asks, pointing to the marks above the paddock’s main entrance.

“Do you think it...?”

“Oh, God,” Claire breaths out, hand covering her mouth. Then she steels her resolve. “She has an implant in her back. I can track it from the control room.” She dials the control room on her phone, and starts yelling into it as she runs to her car. “We have an asset out of containment. Put ACU on alert. This is not a drill.” Owen slips into the paddock hesitantly, unable to shake off the feeling of eyes on the back of his neck. His hair stands on end and he makes sure to do a full perimeter check before following the supervisor over to the main gate, another employee checking the electrical panel.

“That wall is 40 feet high. Do you really think she could have climbed out?” The supervisor asks, squinting up at the marked up wall.

“It depends,” Owen replies.

“On what?”

“What kind of dinosaur they cooked up in that lab.” He can’t shake the feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach and with every shift of the leaves or change in the wind his paranoia grows. He took to pacing back and forth, eyes darting from the technician to the simulated jungle. “Have you figured out the problem yet?”

“There isn’t one.” The technician replies, his voice implying that he can’t quite believe it himself.

“What do you mean there isn’t one?”

“I’ve checked the wiring, the fuses, the power source, and the computer chip three times. They’re all functioning properly, so I don’t know why it’s not picking up a heat signature.” Owen opens his mouth to reply when static crackles through the supervisor’s two-way radio.

“Paddock 11, do you copy?” Vivian’s voice filters through the radio, panicked. “Yeah, what's the problem?”

“It's in the cage! It's in there with you!”

“Go!” Owen yells, attempting a run back to the surveillance room. Then the trees shift and he sees a reptilian spine over the top of them and finds himself face to face with the Indominus. Claws longer than any he’d ever seen and leathery skin a pale grey that both made it stand out and blend in with the shadows. And then he runs in the opposite direction as fast as he can the technician not far behind him. He sees the supervisor open the gate and briefly thinks that it’s a stupid idea, but he can’t complain as it appears to be his only chance for survival. He runs and runs, even when he hears the cracking of bones and tearing of flesh as the technician is devoured by the Indominus, and he can’t bring himself to look back, to acknowledge the man’s death, even as it buys him a few extra seconds to get away. He can hear the creature stomping behind him as his feet pound against the dirt, and he uses everything he has to get through that gate, watching it begin to close in front of him. He gets through it and for a second feels that he’s safe, but not enough to stop running and not a minute later does the Indominus shatter the gate, bursting out into the gravel road entryway with a sickening roar that he feels in his chest and he launches himself under a car as soon as he spots it, trying to lie still and make no sound. He watches the dinosaur adjust to the new landscape, searching for its hidden prey. He can see the paddock supervisor, eyes full of tears and clutching something that hangs around his neck as he watches the Indominus get closer and closer to his hiding spot at the front of a construction vehicle. The Indominus flips the truck over and it lands with a bang and the tinkling of breaking glass, and it momentarily blocks his vision. He knows the supervisor is going to die, and he sees him get snapped up in the blink of an eye through the shattered windows. He quickly rolls over and slashes the gas line under the car, squirting himself with the foul-smelling liquid, making sure that he fully covers himself. The oil is cool and sticky, and he hopes it will be enough to allow him to get out of this alive. He lies as still as possible when the monster approaches the car he’s under, not even daring to breathe, and sees Its nostrils dilate as it tries to scent him, so close he can make out the blood and bits of flesh on its sharp teeth. It lets out a roar that makes Owen flinch before stomping away, heavy feet crunching the gravel. Owen waits until he can no longer hear the thuds or feel the tremors through the ground before crawling out from under the car and surveying the damage down with a sigh of both relief and regret. He takes a moment to think about the two men he had seen die, then gets into the only car that remained untouched by dinosaur or man, intent on giving the people in the control room a piece of his mind.

\---

Zach has his arm around his brother on the train to the Gyrosphere rides, half-heartedly making conversation with the girls sitting behind them as he watches his brother’s face go from excited to morose rapidly. “If mom and dad get divorced, what’s going to happen to me?”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“Because they are.”

“No, they're not getting- They're not getting divorced. Look, you haven't been around long enough. They've always been that way.”

“They get mail from two different lawyers.”

“That doesn't mean anything.”

“I googled it. They're divorce lawyers.” Gray’s voice broke and he started to cry.

“Hey, no, no, no. Don’t cry!” Zach pulls his brother closer, resting his chin on top of Gray’s head. “Just think, you're gonna get two of everything. Right? Two birthdays, two Thanksgivings. Two...”

“I don't want two of everything.”

“I know bud, but it’s not up to you. You’re going to have to grow up. It’s not going to be easy, but you’re going to get through it. Besides, you’ll always have me, okay?”

“Okay.”

\---

Owen pushes through the heavy control room doors, brushing aside a security guard. “I need to see a badge sir.”

“What the hell happened out there? There are thermal cameras all over that paddock. She did not just disappear!”

“It must have been some kind of a technical malfunction,” Claire replies, uncertainty barely hidden on her face.

“Were you not watching? She marked up that wall as a distraction. She wanted us to think she escaped!”

“Hold on. We are talking about an animal here,” Claire says, finding her surety once more and Owen almost laughs at that statement.

“A highly intelligent animal.” It was funny to no end how humans assume that animals cannot possibly be anywhere near as intelligent as them.

“400 meters to the beacon.” Hamada’s voice crackles through the comms device, causing Owen’s eyes to dart to the screen. He almost growls when he sees the stunners attached to the A.C.U’S guns.

“You're going after her with non-lethals?” he asks incredulously.

“We have $26 million invested in that asset. We can't just kill it,” Mr. Masrani says, tone implying that it should be obvious.

“Those men are gonna die.”

“300 meters to the beacon,” Hamada says.

“Call this mission off right now,” Owen’s sure the panic in his voice is pretty obvious by now, but he doesn’t care as long as more people survive.

“They're right on top of it,” Lowery says.

“Call it off right now.”

“You are not in control here!” Claire snaps, keeping a close eye on the screen. The team approaches the signal, a rocky stream coming in to view, when the team stops in front of an oddly bloody rock, and when Hamada picks it up it takes the form of fink flesh and grey scale, a piece of metal and glass sticking out of the red-flecked surface.

“Blood's not clotted yet. Its close,” Hamada says through the comm.

“What is that?” Claire asks hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

“That's her tracking implant. She clawed it out.” Owen replies, shock seeping into his voice.

“How would it know to do that?”

“She remembered where they put it in.” Try doubting its intelligence now Claire. Suddenly screams erupt through the speakers and the Indominus shows itself from between the trees where it was hidden the whole time.

“It can camouflage!” are the last words Hamada yells before he’s picked up in the creature’s claws, the Tasers in the team’s guns shocking through him more than the dinosaur until he gets thrown to the ground and his life is ended in a single stomp of a heavy clawed foot, the first in a string of gruesome casualties that Owen wishes he hadn’t seen coming. One by one the lifelines on the screen go flat with sickening beeps and there are very few dry eyes in the control room.

“Evacuate the island,” Owen says solemnly, a dried trail of wet under his eye.

“We'd never reopen,” Claire says quietly, her own eyes glimmering, and Owen can’t take it anymore, money is not worth the amount of lives that will be lost if that dinosaur isn’t killed.

“You made a genetic hybrid, raised it in captivity. She is seeing all of this for the first time. She does not even know what she is. She will kill everything that moves!”

“Do you think the animal is contemplating its own existence?” Masrani asks skeptically and Owen barely suppresses a snort.

“She is learning where she fits in the food chain... and I'm not sure you want her to figure that out. Now, Asset Containment can use live ammunition in an emergency situation. You have an M134 in your armory. Put it on a chopper and smoke this thing!”

“We have families here. I'm not gonna turn this place into some kind of a war zone,” Claire says angrily.

“You already have,” Owen replies.

“Mr. Grady, if you're not going to help; there's no reason for you to be in here.” Owen sighs, and then turns to Masrani.

“I would have a word with your people in the lab. That thing out there...that's no dinosaur.”

“I'm going to close everything north of the resort. This is a Phase One, real world. Bring everyone in,” Claire says, calm and steady as she almost always is. The last thing he hears before leaving is Vivian say “This is a Phase One, real world. I repeat, this is a Phase One. Bring everyone back in.” As soon as he leaves he pulls an oil-stained piece of paper out of his pocket; he has a phone call to make.


	3. Attacked With the Ankylosaurs

Gray was an encyclopedia at the best of times, but put him in a place where he was surrounded by dinosaurs and he just never seems to stop.

“The soft tissue is preserved because the iron in the dinosaur's blood... generates free radicals, and those are highly reactive. The proteins and the cell membranes get all mixed up... and act as a natural preservative. DNA can survive for millennia that way. Even if the amber mines dry up, they'll still have bones—“

“Wow, you’re just the cutest little know-it-all aren’t you?”

“Shut up Zach.”

“Come on Gray, I’m just teasing you!” Zach throws his arm around his brother and kisses the top of his head before they get on the Gyrosphere, buckling in as the bored teenage employee says “have a nice ride.” The doors to the ride slide closed and an automated voice explains the dangers and safety procedures of the ride as they make their way down the track into the valley where the ride begins with a Jimmy Fallon video explaining the safety features and design of the ride. At first there isn’t anything to see but expansive fields and the outline of the jungle.

“Where are they?” Gray asks impatiently, scanning as far as his neck can twist in an attempt to spot at least one brachiosaur or something. Suddenly they crest a hill and they’re surrounded by them, dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes and the look of pure joy on Gray’s face makes Zach’s day.

“Oh man,” Zach breathes out, gazing around in awe. And then the screen flashes with a notice and a voice comes through the speakers saying “Due to technical difficulties all our exhibits are now closed. Please disembark all rides and return to the resort” and Grays expression falls. “Come on, we can stay out a couple more minutes,” Zach says, squeezing Gray’s arm.

“But they said it was closed.”

“Aunt Claire gave us special wristbands, right? We're VIP, dude. Come on. It'll be fun.”

“Alright fine.”

“That’s the spirit bro.” he takes the control stick and starts to guide them through the field, anything to put that smile on his brother’s face again. Then Zach’s phone rings with an unknown number, and he picks it up with a swipe. “Hello?”

“Zach? It's Owen, you need to…”

“What? Owen I can’t hear you we’re in the hamster ball!”

“Zach-” his phone cuts Owen off and he shrugs. A call from Claire comes through shortly after and he rolls his eye before answering. “Hey Claire,” Zach says, Gray looking at him funny for his tone of voice. Her phone call is even more garbled and Zach hangs up before the phone does it for him. He’s not overly interested in talking to Claire anyway. They spot a group of stegosaurs lounging in the shade by a long iron fence made up of large bars, the gate broken off its hinges and ripe for exploration.

“What happened here?” Gray asks, and while Zach doesn’t know, he can see the curiosity thrumming beneath his brother’s skin, and takes the opportunity to keep him happy.

“Dude. Off road. We can check it out, see what happened.”

“But they told us to go back,” Gray says, curiosity and anxiety warring with each other in his eye.

“I'm just worried you're not getting the full Jurassic World experience,” Zach replies, edging forward when Gray gives a reluctant nod with a sigh.

\---

Waiting in the learning centre for something to happen was irritating beyond belief and left the same sickening feeling he used to get before missions in the navy, so sure that something bad would happen each second he waited for orders. The dropped phone call he made to Zach didn’t help any and after his attempt to call back went straight to voicemail he nearly threw the thing across the building. Instead he glares at it and sighs as he goes through his contact list, stopping on Olivia Grady and clicking it. It only rings twice before she picks up.

“Hello?”

“Livy, where are you?”

“I’m in the jungle running a quick perimeter search, I need to make sure there’s no one left in here.”

“Livy, you need to get out of there, the monster they cooked up in the lab is out there and it will kill everything that moves.”

“All the more reason for me to be here making sure no one else is.”

“Please, please, please be careful, alright?” Owen asks, and the panic in his voice must be apparent because she responds solemnly.

“Always.”

“And promise me you’ll get out of there as soon as possible, got it?”

“Yes DAD.” He smirks at the sarcasm in her voice and lets out a low chuckle.

“Love you Liv.”

“Love you too bro, bye.”

“Goodbye, and be safe! Call me back when you get out!” He can almost hear the salute his sister undoubtedly gives him through the phone and he smiles after she hangs up. He turns at the sound of high heels clicking against the tiled floor loudly, and sees five foot seven of white clothes, red hair, and panic coming towards him. “Claire!”

“I need you,” she says as soon as she reaches him and the tone of her voice makes him think twice before turning that into a joke or snarky comment about how she said the complete opposite an hour ago.

“Okay,” he replies.

“I need your help. My nephews, they're out in the Valley. Please, if anything happens to them…” Owen leads her away from the guests, some of whom are looking at her suspiciously while her voice gets higher with fear.

“How old?” Owen asks, dropping her hand once they're out of earshot.

“The older one, he's college age, and the younger one, he's... He's a few years...”

“You don't know how old your nephews are?” Claire looks up at him exasperatedly, tears starting to brim in her eyes.

“I haven’t been able to see them in a long time, and I really don’t have time for you to judge me right now, so just please help me find them?”

“Alright,” Owen squeezes her shoulder once to comfort her. “Let’s go.”

\---

Zach pushes the sphere down the hill and into thick jungle, the thrill and potential danger of the situation creating a heavy air in their wake, building within their hearts and leaving a churning feeling in their bellies. Gray gets more and more paranoid as they go, feeling something immensely wrong about the situation, but trying to pass it off as just them doing something they’re not supposed to. “No, no. Bad idea, bad idea.”

“Great idea.”

“No! We're gonna get arrested. They'll shave our heads, and we're gonna have to make root beer in the toilet.”

“What are you talking about?” Zach asks, tickling his brother in his side until they come upon a new set of dinosaurs they hadn’t seen previously. “There. You see? I told you. You're welcome. Up close and personal... with four dinosauruses.” He says it on purpose to try and get a smile out of his brother but it doesn’t seem to work.

“Ankylosaurus. We shouldn't be here. And there are five dinosaurs.”

“Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something? Look. One, two, three...four.” Zach says, pointing to the four Ankylosaurs in front of them.

“Five,” Gray says, pointing to the reflection of one in the glass, they turn as one to look at it and then it roars. “Go, go, go!” The dinosaurs kicks their Gyrosphere before Zach can move it, sending them flying and bouncing off of trees and Ankylosaurs alike. The sounds of Gray’s screams keep Zach focused and he takes his brother’s hand and holds it tightly.

“Shit! Hold it together, man!” Eventually they slide to a stop, startled as an Ankylosaur tries to hold its ground against the creature.

“Drive! Drive! Go!” Gray yells as soon as the path is clear. Zach pushes the control stick as hard forward as he can, trying to get them the hell out of there, only to be stopped when the ankylosaur’s tail smashes into the sphere, cracking the glass and sending them bottom first into a tree, shattering the technology that keeps the seats upright. As they dangle upside down, Zach takes Gray’s hand again, ignoring his phone sliding out of his pocket in favour of calming his brother. They look away as the Ankylosaur’s neck is snapped brutally by the creature and Zach can see that Gray is fending off tears. “We're safe in here, right?”

“Yeah. They're totally safe.” Zach replies, trying to keep him as calm as possible, squeezing his hand tightly. It is then his phone starts ringing, vibrating loudly against the glass and Zach tries his best to reach for it, just barely missing with each pass of his hand.

“Zach.”

“I almost got it.”

“Zach?”

“Yeah?”

“Look.”

“What?” Zach looks up to see a large orange eye staring at them, an almost malicious gleam to it as it blinks slowly. It starts to move them, turning them over and trying to get into the sphere, a long claw piercing the glass in time with Gray’s piercing screams. It pulls back to open its maw, unable to quite fit the ball in a first, but eventually it gets its teeth in and all Zach could hear was the thudding of the ball against the ground and his brother’s screams mingling with his own. The bottom of the sphere shatters and the sound of it manages to stir him into action, unbuckling his and Gray’s belts one handed so they can slip out of the ball together. The ball slams over them once more, before he’s pulling Gray up and away from the monster. “Go! Go!” he yells as soon as their on their feet and they take off. He keeps Gray slightly ahead of him, knowing that he’d rather the monster eat him first to give gray time to run. The sound of the monster’s roar and the thud of its feet follow them as they run through trees and over mud and grass, until they reach a cliff. There’s nowhere to go but over and the creature is gaining on them by the second. ”We're gonna have to jump.”

“I can't,” Gray whimpers, clutching his brother’s arms.

“Yes you can! Are you ready? One, two-- Come on!” they barely make it, and Zach can feel the monster’s jaws snap shut behind him, unable to hear anything over the rushing in his ears. The water is hard as they slap against it, and much warmer than he expected. He keeps Gray under until he sees the vague shape of the monster fade from sight, then he pulls him to the surface and guides them to the nearest bank. They pull up through the mud there and Zach makes sure Gray doesn’t get stuck behind him. “You jumped.” Gray smiles at his brother and Zach pulls him close for a hug, burying his face in wet curls and trying not to think of how close he just came to losing Gray forever.

\---

Owen scans the near empty Gyrosphere valley for any sign of life, an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. They crest another hill in the jeep and see that his unease was justified, and he turns to Claire. “Stay in the car.” He turns the jeep off and jogs over to the near dead Apatosaurus he saw through the window, its body is lined with deep festering gouges and flies are already starting to circle It. It brays weakly as he approaches and he kneels to stroke the side of Its face.

“Hi,” he says as it mewls at him. “I know, I know. It’s alright.” He lets it lay Its head on his lap and he crosses his legs to make himself more comfortable. “Alright girl. It’s okay.” He can see Claire getting out of the car from the corner of his eye, approaching the Apatosaurus cautiously, and reaching out a shaky hand to stroke it next to Owen’s. she smiles weakly, then startles away as it tries to get up, Owen calming it and gently easing its head back down with a litany of okays. “You’re okay girl, you’re okay.” He watches the life leave the animals eyes and closes them with his hands. Tears start falling freely from Claire’s eyes and he exhales a shaky puff of air before standing to examining the surrounding area. What he sees makes him gasp in horror. Apatosaurus carcasses line the valley, not a scrap of meat lifted from their bodies except the wounds that were the causes of their deaths. He feels more than sees Claire walk up beside him, and her gasp matches his own.

“It didn’t eat them.”

“Oh God.”

“It’s killing for sport.”

\---

Coming upon the absolutely destroyed Gyrosphere is disheartening, especially when he pulls a tooth out of the wreckage. “No, no, no. No.” Claire chants as she kneels by a broken cellphone, screen cracked beyond repair. Owen scans the copse for any sign of two boys, and lets out a relieved sigh when he spots two sets of footprints heading away from the wreckage, a much larger one stamped on top of them.

“Hey,” he says, crouching beside her, and pointing out the footprints. “They made it out.” They follow the footprints to the Cliffside where they end abruptly, meaning only one thing.

“Oh, my God, they jumped,” Claire says, peering over the high drop and down the waterfall.

“Brave kids,” Owen says, trying to think of where they could have gone after this point.

“Zach! Gray!” Claire yells, and Owen barely has time to connect those names to two smiling faces in his memory before he’s shushing her. “Hey, I am not one of your damn animals.”

“Listen, those kids are still alive, but you and I will not be if you continue to scream like that.” He might not live long anyways after Claire finds out about his plans with her nephew, but he’d like to actually make it to that point first.

“So, you can pick up their scent, can't you? Track their footprints?” Claire asks her voice thankfully lowered.

“I was with the Navy, not the Navajo,” Owen replies with an eye roll.

“So then what should we do? What do you suggest we do?”

“You get back. I'll find them.”

“No, we'll find them,” Claire says with a gesture between the two of them determination set in her eyes and jaw.

“You'll last two minutes in there," Owen says, pointing to the jungle. “Less, in those ridiculous shoes.” Claire gives him a look, and then unbuckles the belt around her waist, opening her loose shirt before tying it at her midriff. She then pulls her sleeves up to her elbows and places her hands on her hips when she’s done. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I'm ready to go.”

“Okay then,” Owen replies. “Let's get one thing straight. I'm in charge out here. You do everything I say, exactly as I say it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Just relax,” Owen says, slipping the strap of the gun off of his shoulder. “It's just like taking a stroll through the woods. 65 million years ago.”

“Okay,” Claire sighs, pushing past him to walk down the slope of the cliff and into the jungle beyond. Owen takes one last glance at the Indominus’ print in the mud, fully aware that the chance of them running into it just got significantly higher. He thought of Zach’s beautiful smile, bright and hopeful, and the shyness in Gray’s bell-like laughter, “Please be alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to give Owen more emotional depth as a character because I feel that the movie made his emotional development very flat. Also we finally get a glimpse of Owen's sister! Yay! She actually becomes a physical character in the next chapter so that'll be fun! It seems like Owen and Zach went to the same school for protective older brothers :) I'm going to start writing it soon, promise!


	4. Ghosts of the Past and Dinner for the Dimorphodons

Finding a dirt-encrusted, blood- speckled park helmet split in half was not doing wonders for keeping Gray calm, and to be honest it freaks Zach out a little as well, but he doesn’t have time to be afraid, not when he has Gray to look after, and so he pulls his brother to his side, keeping an arm around him as they walk. They come across a sparking jeep, the doors ripped off and the hood dented severely, and Zach pushes Gray back.

“Stay here.” Gray shakes his head and clutches Zach’s arm tightly so Zach just sighs and lets him examine the wreck with him. The car is unsalvageable, and Zach turns away angrily, then frowns, glimpsing a door through leafy vines. He takes Gray’s hand and they walk up cracked stone steps, and then work together to push open heavy doors, hinges rusted from disuse. Whatever this building had been, it was completely unusable now. The floor was covered in black dirt and plants erupting from cracked tiles and the environment had taken over the space like something from a post-apocalyptic movie.

“Wow,” Gray whispers. Zach pulls a pointed object out of the ground, eyes widening when he realizes that it’s a large bone, but looking at it and the plastic banner on the floor he got an idea.

“You still have those matches?” he asks, wrapping the banner around the top of the bone. He smiles when Gray pulls them out of the dorky pouch on his hip and holds them out to him.

“Here you go.” It takes no time at all to get a simple torch going, and he keeps Gray close to him as they explore the building, tracing paintings of dinosaurs on the walls, and slowly coming to the realization that this must be the remnants of the old park. He feels Gray let go of his sweater to stare at a raptor, hovering just a second too long.

“Gray!” Gray runs back to his side, both arms wrapped around one of his. The next room they come upon is a mixture of utility storage and garage, untouched since the place was abandoned all those years ago. Jackets are still hanging from the coat pegs, interactive helmets lie on counters, waiting for repair, and car parts sit in organized bins, ready to be used whenever they are needed. They go over to the cars left behind, they’re covered in vines but apart from that seem to be in perfect condition.

“1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, Sand Beige,” Gray says, and Zach gives him a pointed look.

“You remember when we fixed up Grandpa's old Malibu, right?”

“Yeah.”

“How about we see what we can do with this old thing?”

“Okay,” Gray replies, and Zach ruffles his hair and starts pulling vines off of the jeep, and then lifts the hood to examine the damage done.

“I think we’re going to need a new battery and I’ll have to clean out the oil and replace it, maybe tighten a few things, but it doesn’t look too bad. Can you see if you can find a tool box and a can of oil please?” Gray nods and starts rifling through the containers while Zach gets started on removing the battery, first taking off his sweater and tying it around his waist. The next couple of hours pass in a calm monotony that gives Zach time to breathe and focus himself, but he can feel Gray get more anxious the longer they linger. “You think it's out there?” he asks, and Gray nods hesitantly. “I mean, I know for a fact it is definitely not out there, all right? We're totally safe.” He gives Gray a one-armed hug before handing him the old battery to put away. “Here, go take this. You’re stronger than me.” Gray’s smile is all he needs for motivation and he finishes the rest of the repairs in record time, and before he knows it, he’s closing the trunk and wiping the last of the sweat from his brow. “All right. Turn it over.” The engine stutters a bit, then runs almost perfectly, and Zach lets out a whoop of excitement. The sound of footsteps makes him turn around, and while the woman approaching them looks familiar, they have no idea who she is. She’s a fairly tall woman, about the same height as Zach, but also very solid, with wide hips, strong thighs and muscular arms. Her warm amber eyes are soft and kind, a speckling of freckles make a trail over her nose, and her sandy blonde hair is pulled up into a high ponytail, a few strands starting to come loose.

“What are you kids doing out here? You should be back at the park, it isn’t safe.”

“Well, we were out on the Gyrosphere,” Zach begins.

“And then Zach decided to go off-road,” Gray mutters, getting glared at by his brother.

“And we were attacked by this… I don’t even know what it was.”

“It was no dinosaur I’ve ever read about.”

“And he’s read, like, every book about dinosaurs he could get his hands on. Anyways, it chased us to this cliff, and we jumped into the lake below it and followed the path that lead here.”

“Impressive. How’d you get one of these things started? They haven’t been touched in ages.”

“Our grandfather used to be a mechanic, and he showed us a few things when we came to visit, and one summer he let us fix up his old Malibu.” Zach replies, trying to figure out just what was so familiar about this woman.

“Nice. We really should get going though, that thing could still be out there.”

“Do you know what it is?” Gray asks.

“The Indominus Rex. A hybrid created in the lab for the express purpose of making more money. It’s extremely dangerous and no one is exactly sure what it’s made of.” The woman sighs and tucks her hair behind her ears. “I’m sorry you kids had to experience it firsthand.”

“Thank you. We’re stronger than we look though, “ Zach says with a smile at his brother. “I’m Zach Mitchell and this is my brother Gray. Do you want to ride back with us?’ “Olivia Grady, but you can call me Livy. And sure, that would be nice, beats having to walk back.” Zach thinks for a second and then it clicks. Grady. As in Owen Grady, the man he planned to go out with if they both survived today. He shakes it off and climbs into the driver’s seat, buckling up his seat belt, and waiting for Gray and Livy to do the same.

“I thought you failed your driver’s test?” Gray asks, a teasing grin on his lips.

“Only the driving part, and that was three years ago!” Gray laughs at him, Olivia chiming in from the back.

“If it helps I failed mine twice. My brother wouldn’t let it go.” Zach chuckles with them after that, then hits the gas, speeding off down an old dirt track that would hopefully lead them back to the park.

\---

The sound of a rumbling engine tore through the forest and sends Claire and Owen running off to find the source, ending up in the doorway of the garage to the old park. Owen bends to pick up a familiar grey hoodie, spattered in dirt and oil. “This one of theirs?” He asks Claire, trying to avoid arousing her suspicions.

“Yeah. That road goes straight back to the park.” Claire says, pride in her eyes. Owen finds a makeshift torch by the other jeep, and an old battery that must have been pulled out of the car the kids took, and marvels at their ingenuity.

“How did they even get one of these things started?” he mutters to himself, starting to pull vines off of the hood when he hears a loud thump. He immediately pulls Claire down behind the car, holding her arm to keep her calm. He curses inwardly when he spots his rifle leaning against the jeeps door instead of in his hands, then whips his head back when a large clawed foot comes into view. The monster keeps up a low rumble in its chest as it moves, sliding Its massive head into the empty spot in the garage, putrid breath smelling of rotting blood and flesh, hot and horrible. It knocks against the car loudly, forcing it to tilt, and he can tell Claire is trying not to scream, a soft whimper falling from her mouth alongside a single tear. It drops the car and slinks back out of the garage, and Owen takes the opportunity to grab his gun quietly. They take a moment to breathe, letting themselves relax, when the roof caves in, the Indominus’ head crashing through it with a roar. They run into the atrium, nearly crushed by the jeep, when the monster’s foot kicks it into the wall. Owen leaps over a decomposing tyrannosaurus skeleton, booking it through the heavy door so he could help Claire along, pleasantly surprised when she bolts past him, heels and all. He can hear the Indominus crash into the atrium, but he’s too far afterwards to determine whether it left the old park, although the lack of heavy footsteps is a good sign, and he’s almost certain it isn’t following them anymore. Claire whips out her cellphone, putting it on speaker so she can keep running.

“Lowery, we found her. South of the Gyrosphere Valley, between the old park and the Aviary.”

“Wait, are you following the dinosaur?” Owen can barely hear the reply through tinny phone speakers and chuckles as he realizes that along the way they had begun following Claire’s nephews and the dinosaur both.

“Yes. Get A.C.U out here. Real guns this time.”

“A.C.U is airborne. They took the helicopter.”

“Who's flying it?”

“Mr. Masrani.”

“Oh my God,” Claire whispers, hanging up. They keep running, as fast as they can until the reach a cliff overlooking the Aviary, watching the helicopter flying shakily towards the Indominus, which has almost reached the glass dome. A.C.U sends round after round towards the creature, but nothing seems to hit and the Indominus smashes straight through the glass, snapping and roaring at the flying dinosaurs caged there, and sending them out of the hole in the dome, and straight up into the helicopter. Owen and Claire are too far to see exactly what happens, but they can see the helicopter veer out of control, crashing into the Aviary in a fiery explosion, setting more animals free, and killing Mr. Masrani in one fell swoop. They barely manage a minute of silence before they’re sent running again, this time into the trees, diving into the grass to escape the sharp jaws of Pteranodons and Dimorphodons as they fly straight towards the park, and its entire populace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think of Livy? Let me know if she needs work or anything :) so reunions next chapter and lots of longer, hopefully awesome chapters to come!


	5. Tea Time With the Pteranodons

The jeep runs through the security gate with nothing more than a clatter, chain links clinking in time with Zach’s whoop of excitement. “Okay, that's it. We're safe now,” he says, squeezing Gray’s arm. Then he hears a squawk and Livy is shaking his arm.

“Go, go, go!” He peers into the rear-view mirror, swearing loudly when he sees that horde of flying dinosaurs gaining on them.

“Go, go, go! Hurry up!” Gray yells, hand wound tight in Zach’s burgundy t-shirt, the material stretching thinner and loosening. Zach punches the gas as hard as he can, Gray and Livy yelling a mixture of encouragements and “go faster”s and he tries as hard as he can to stay in control, even when hard- packed dirt gives way first to grass, then to loose gravel as they get closer and closer to the gate that sections the main park off of the rest of the island.

“Hey! Help us!” Zach calls, spotting two guards at the top of the gate. Gray and Livy start waving their arms to get their attention as well, yelling in unison with Zach as the dinosaurs start to appear over the jungle.

“Open the gate! Let us in! Open it up! Come on! Open the gate! Let us in!” They can barely make out the guards scrambling, and are lucky- or maybe not- to be let in before the dinosaurs fly over the gate, although Zach can see one guard get picked up and tossed through the air, but he tries to keep going, heading for shelter.

\---

Owen glares at his phone as he runs, waiting for his sister to call him, and terrified by not knowing where exactly she is. He spots a quad bike not two meters away from where they’re standing, hopping over to get it when Claire picks up her phone. “Hello?”

“Claire, we spotted the boys on surveillance with a blond woman. They're approaching the west gate. I'm headed there now.” Owen recognizes the disembodied voice as Zara, Claire’s assistant that he had only really met once on that disaster of a date, and breathes out a sigh of relief when he hears that the boys are safe, and hoping that the woman with them is his sister.

“Okay, okay. Stay right there. I'm on my way. Stay right with them.” She hangs up when she gets the confirmation, and Owen revs up the engine to the quad. “Hey! Get on!” Claire hops onto the back of the quad and wraps her arms around Owen, barely flinching when he speeds off as soon as she’s adjusted, and they drive into what can only be described as pure chaos. There are people everywhere, running in a mass panic, nowhere to go but trying to get anywhere they can, some injured, and some already lying down motionless, lifeless. Glass and broken pieces of building litter the ground, and the air is filled with screams of pain and wails of fear. They run into an A.C.U squad and Owen stops the quad, pulling his gun off of his shoulder to join them.

“All units take position on boardwalk. Use liquid tranquilizers. Do not fire live ammunition.” The squad leader calls out, and Owen nods, looking back at Claire when she doesn’t follow.

“Claire, come on!” They take off at a run, hoping to be able to stop this disaster and prevent more death.

\---

Zach is surprised when Zara appears almost out of thin air to herd him and his brother to safety and their Aunt, but he definitely isn’t ungrateful for it. “I’m so sorry we left you like that. It was irresponsible and childish and we really shouldn’t have run off.” Zara smiles and waves him off.

“It’s alright. I’m sure no 19 year old would approve of being hired a babysitter, and I forgive you. Now, don't just stand there! Go! Get inside now!” He takes Gray’s hand and they run alongside Zara, trying to weave their way through the crowds of people to the learning centre, barely able to move in the chaos. Gray links hands with Livy at some point as well, keeping them in a chain. Then there’s a squawk and Zara is picked up and thrown and Zach screams her name, bringing Gray and Livy over to check on her. Thankfully, the worst injuries she sustains are a sluggishly bleeding cheek wound and a sprained arm, but Zach makes sure they get her inside anyways before they leave to find Claire.

\---

The boardwalk is even worse than the gate and the destruction and it seems like the chances of them containing the situation are slim, but they set up a formation and start firing, dinosaurs dropping from the sky like flies. Claire steps up onto an overturned merchandise cart, out of firing range but still protected, yelling for her nephews.

“Zach! Gray!” Distantly they hear a small voice call back “Aunt Claire!” and they can hear Zach encouraging his brother to go faster.

“Go, go!”

“Claire!” Owen can see them running in the distance, a Pteranodon hot on their trail, and realizes that if that thing got shot down one of them would be pierced through by it beak. “No! Hold your—agh!” before he can command them to stop shooting he’s tackled by a Dimorphodon, trying to force it’s snapping jaws away from his face, it’s wings beating against his sides.

\---

They duck to the side as the Pteranodon behind them is shot down, backing up on their hands and feet as its razor sharp beak gets closer to them, until it slides to a stop, inches in front of Gray’s face. Zach quickly pulls him to his feet, searching for where they last spotted Claire, and finds her, gun in hand and shooting a Dimorphodon that has a man pinned.

“Is that Aunt Claire?” Gray asks, eyes narrowed like he cannot believe his aunt could ever do something like that. He smiles and nods, then tries to find Livy, having gotten separated from her in the crowd, and nearly jumping when she pops up behind him, looking more than a little bedraggled, but otherwise fine.

“Is that Owen?” She asks, confused as to why he’s hugging the park manager, and Zach turns quickly, spotting Owen beside his aunt with a smile, then takes Gray’s hand and runs towards them.

“Owen!” he yells, and the man turns, keen eyes spotting him quickly in the crowd and he starts jogging towards them as quickly as he can. Zach lets Gray run to Claire, who looks him over with unsure hands, exclaiming at every scratch she finds on him, and then opens his arms when he reaches Owen, wrapping them around the man’s muscular torso, sighing contentedly when strong arms come to rest firmly on his back.

“Are you alright?” Owen asks, taking Zach by the shoulders and pushing him back a bit to look him over.

“Yeah, we’re all fine, just shaken up.”

“What happened?”

“We were being chased by that Indominus thing, and we ended up at that old park and fixed up a jeep, and then we came straight here.”

“How did you manage that by the way? I was pretty impressed.”

Zach blushes then replies, “Grey and I used to fix up cars with our grandpa, and I’m in college for mechanical engineering. I’d like to be a mechanic someday.”

“Huh.”

“Oh! And we picked up your sister along the way, she should be around here somewh- mph.” He’s cut off by the warm pressure of Owen’s lips on his, a simple, sweet kiss with the potential to be everything later, when they have the time for it.

“Thank you,” Owen whispers, pulling away just in time for Livy to come bounding towards him, leaping into his arms in a clinging bear hug. Zach smiles and lets them reunite, jogging over to Claire and Gray, letting her hug him too tightly while she checks him over.

“Oh, my God! Thank God! What happened? Are you okay? Where did you go? Why didn't you come back? I was so worried about you.” Claire says when she has her grip on both nephews, running her hands over their heads and shoulders as if to reassure herself that they’re not going to disappear again.

“Hey. We gotta go,” Owen says, an arm wrapped tightly around Livy’s shoulders.

“Okay.” Claire says, herding Gray with an arm around his shoulders, picking up her phone again to call the control room back. “Lowery, I'm on my way back to you.” Zach can’t hear what Lowery replies with, but the confusion on Aunt Claire’s face leads him to believe it is not good. “What do you mean "use the Raptors"?”

“Son of a bitch!” Owen says, and Zach takes his hand to try and calm him down.

“You shouldn't say ‘bitch’.” Gray says, watching the inGen helicopters fly overhead.

“Take the kids and Livy. Get them someplace safe.” Owen says, Livy already making to protest when the large gate begins to groan, and the latch starts to buckle. They run towards the nearest vehicle and climb in just as the gate burst open to a flood of people. Owen hits the reverse, trying not to hit anyone, but get out of the way at the same time.

“You got this! Just drive!” Zach says from behind him, keeping a warm hand on his shoulder.

“Go faster!” Livy yells from behind Claire, and Owen hastens to comply, pulling into an alcove as the horde of people rushes by, and they all sit back, panting and wide-eyed.

“This does not feel safe. Can we stay with you?” Gray asks, peering at Owen through his fringe.

“I am never leaving you as long as you live,” Claire says.

“No, no, no. Him,” Gray replies, pointing at Owen.

“Yeah, definitely him,” Zach says, locking eyes with Owen in the rear-view mirror with as cheeky a smile he can muster, and his heart skips a beat when he gets a genuine grin in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Together at last! the next chapter is a longer one with a lot more Zackwen bonding and brothers moments and badassery with the raptors so stay tuned! :)  
> Sidenotes: keeping the differences of the two types of flying dinosaurs in mind so I could have the right ones attack the right people wasn't actually that hard, Pteranodons have a pointy beak, Dimorphodons have a clunky beak and funny tail. and I really enjoy writing siblings dynamics all of a sudden? maybe its cuz my own brothers are moving away for good... meh.


	6. Hunting With the Velociraptors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I've been both busy and not feeling well...

The sky was black and empty that night, the stars and moon hidden behind the clouds as if they knew that tonight wasn’t a night to be out on, a night where staying hidden was safer. The raptor paddock was brightly lit with the type of spotlights they used in sports arenas, and it was buzzing with iNGen soldiers, the raptors locked up in their restraints already. Owen parked the jeep and got out with a gruff, “Wait here”, although he was unsurprised when both Claire and his sister followed him out. He walks straight up to Hoskins, who turns to him with a smug smile on his face.

“The mother hen has finally arrived!” Owen’s punch sends him tumbling, but he manages to straighten before he falls, holding his jaw with a grimace.

“Get the hell out of here and stay away from my animals,” Owen growls,

“Hoskins, you wanted this to happen, you son of a bitch!” Claire adds, Livy looking ready to punch Hoskins herself.

“Oh, Jesus! How many more people have to die before this mission starts to make sense to you?”

“It's not a mission. It's a field test,” Barry cuts in, moving to stand by Owen’s side and greeting Livy with a tight smile.

“This is an iNGen situation now. Okay, there are gonna be cruise ships that show up here at first light. Everybody's gonna get off this island. You're gonna watch a news story tomorrow about how you all saved lives. No, no, no, better yet... how your animals saved lives.” Owen looks to Barry and his sister, the latter of which shakes her head.

“They've never been out of containment. It's crazy,” Barry says with a pointed look at Owen.

“Let's move it out!” Hoskins calls, then turns to Owen, so close he can smell the tuna salad the man had for dinner. “This is happening! With or without you.” And with that Owen knows he has no choice. The raptors wouldn’t cooperate if he wasn’t there, plain and simple- it would be a bloodbath without him.

\---

Meeting in the metal tent hastily constructed outside of the paddock, making strategies over a wobbly table with a map laid out in front of them reminds Owen too much of his Navy days to be strictly comfortable, but he’s able to slip into the role of leader with an ease acquired from years of practice that never really faded away.

“We know that she is in sector five,” He says, pointing out the correct area on the map. “This is a game we call hide-and-seek. It's a scent drill. We've done it about a thousand times with these animals. When they get on target, and they will get on target... wait to engage. Velociraptors are pack hunters. They like to herd the animal into a kill zone. That's when we take our shot. Get a clear shot, wait on my command and give her everything you got. We got one good target, gentlemen. Do not shoot my Raptors. Please.” The please he adds as a security measure, but given how attentive the soldiers around him were, and the surety of their agreement, he was hopeful that nothing would go wrong on that end. He sighs after dismissing them, then goes to where the raptors are restrained, chirping happily at Livy while she talks to them, stroking their noses with a broad smile. She hadn’t been around as much after they were raised, training the raptors was not her job and she was only meant to help nurture them until it was time to learn to fend for themselves. He walks up to his best girl, and begins to stroke her snout, her rumbling easing into something quieter that could almost be called a purr.

“Easy, Blue. Easy. Atta girl. You don't scare me.”

“Hey Owen.” He turns to see Zach and Gray leaning on the outer fence of the cage and walks over to them, managing a shadow of his usual cocky grin.

“Are they safe?” Gray asks, curiosity burning in his eyes.

“No, they're not,” Owen says seriously, and Gray nods.

“What are their names?” Zach asks.

“Why don’t you come meet them yourself?” Owen hits the button to the latch on the gate and lets the boys in, pleased when Zach twines their fingers together, and leads them to the first raptor in the row. “Here you have Charlie. Then there's Echo, and Delta.” He takes them down the line of raptors slowly, his sister watching with a smile when Gray gets a puff of air to the face and hops back a few steps. Finally they stop at the last one. “This one's called Blue. She's the beta.” He reaches out with the hand holding Zach’s to stroke her snout, the boy looking apprehensive at first, then relaxing with a soft grin, Blue enjoying the extra attention. “Hey Blue,” Zach whispers.

“Who's the alpha?” Gray asks.

“You're looking at him, kid.” Owen replies with a wink that makes Zach and Livy roll their eyes in almost perfect unison. “We used to joke around that I was the Alpha, Livy was the mom, and Barry was the stingy Uncle.” Zach chuckles, still petting Blue. “She really must like you. She normally only lets Livy and I stroke her like that.” Zach smiles up at him and kisses his cheek before taking Gray’s hand and trying to get him to pet the raptor to and Owen leaves them to it with a smile, knowing they’re safe with the restraints in place.

“Hey Liv?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you called Melinda yet?”

“Of course!” his sister replies affrontedly. “Right before the meeting. She’s worried, but she knows I’m fine.” Then she smiles brightly, and hands Owen her phone, an ultrasound on the screen with the words “It’s a boy!” doodled under it in bright pink.

“That’s awesome Liv, wow! I’m gonna have the cutest little nephew!” Owen cries pulling his sister into a bear hug, Barry calling a “Congratulations” from nearby. Zach gives him thumbs up from the gate, accompanied by a wink that Claire catches as she approaches them. She waits until Zach and Gray are over by the emergency truck to approach Owen.

“What was that?” she asks angrily.

“What was what?”

“That thing with my nephew just now.” Owen sighs and scrubs a hand across his face.

“Listen Claire…”

“No you listen. I may not be close to my nephews and I may not know exactly how old they are, but I do know that Zach is barely an adult and at a very vulnerable time in his life. Now more than ever after what happened today. He does not need to be taken advantage of or lead on by a thirty-something year-old that wants a pretty face without the attachments. I love both my nephews and would rather they hate me then see them hurt. So if you hurt Zach, if you break him, then you can damn well be sure that I will make you suffer for it.” Owen opens and closes his mouth, then nods.

“Duly noted. I promise you that hurting Zach is the last thing I want. He’s such a bright, caring person and I want to get to know him and see how far that brain of his takes him. I may not love him right now, but I’m sure with time I could, and probably will. He may be young, but he is still an adult and he can make choices for himself, good or bad he’s got to learn things for himself too.”

“I know,” Claire sighs. “ Just remember that I have access to the t-rex paddock.” Claire stomps away, heels clicking loudly against the pavement and Owen gulps.

\---

Claire unlocks the back door of the emergency vehicle, then heaves the doors open. “See? Totally safe. All right, get in.” She spots Gray with a hand on his back to make sure he doesn’t fall out backwards, and Zach nods at her in quiet thanks before climbing in himself. “Come on. Get in there.” Zach makes sure Gray sits first, then takes stock of the vehicles insides, a lot of first aid equipment and some things that looked like large cattle-prods lined the walls. “If you need me, I'll be right up front. Just open that window.” Claire says, pointing behind their heads. “Okay?” They both look back and nod once they find the window. “Put your seatbelts on.” Zach looks down at the sides of the seat, Gray patting his, then gives Claire an unimpressed look. “Okay, so just... hold hands.” She closes the doors with a small grunt, and Gray turns to Zach, holding out a hesitant hand. Zach smiles at him and links their fingers together, squeezing his brother’s hand once before settling them on his thigh.

“Nothing's getting in here, right?” Gray asks.

“Hey. Do you remember that ghost at the old house? Remember the one in the garage? I protected you, right?”

“You made a battle axe out of a ruler and a paper plate.”

“Yeah,” Zach replies, smiling at the memory. “See, nothing is gonna get you while I'm around, okay?”

“But you're not always gonna be around.”

“Yeah, well... Hey. We're brothers, right? We'll always be brothers and we'll always come back to one another. No matter what.”

“No matter what?” Gray asks, his voice breaking a little.

“No matter what.” Zach replies, pulling his brother into a tight hug and pressing kisses into his hair.

\---

Owen opens the cloth to reveal the pink flesh of the Indominus, tracking beacon still glowing brightly, surrounded by flecks of dried blood. He takes it to each of the raptors, waiting for their puffs of breath, and then using the clicker to tell them to store the scent. Then he wraps the piece of flesh back up and hands it off to be disposed of, hopping onto his bike and revving it up. Once everyone is either on or in a vehicle, ready to get away if any one of his girls decides to misbehave, he turns to look at Barry and Livy, waiting for them to nod, and then turns to give the signal. Ironically it is the same newbie from earlier that opens the gate, sending the raptors off into the wild, vehicles quickly following after. Owen zips through the jungle ahead of the others, aiming to get his girls in line and on target, and catches up to them pretty quickly, and feels a grin spread across his face as they run with him instead of ahead of him, tearing through the night with deadly focus.

\---

Gray and Zach slide the window open, watching the unit speed through the jungle on the monitor in Claire’s hands. “Awesome.” Gray says, watching as the raptors tear through the trees, completely enraptured.

“Here we go,” Owen says through the speakers, heading the charge with his raptors following him in a deadly V.

“Your boyfriend's a badass,” Gray says, nudging Zach with his shoulder.

“Yeah, he is,” Zach replies, sounding a little besotted, and he ruffles his brothers hair to hide his embarrassment, Claire smiling and shaking her head at them.

\---

“They're slowing down. They got something,” Owen calls back, Barry shaking his head in disbelief. They catch up to the raptors and pulls to a stop. Slipping out of their vehicles, guns at the ready, approaching quietly and steadily. Owen takes point, Barry and Livy coming up on either of his sides as they walk up to a fallen tree, using it to support their guns and RPGs.

\---

“You know what? No, no, no. You guys are not gonna watch this.” Claire says, reaching behind her. “Keep the window closed.” She shuts the window despite the boys protests, and as soon as it’s closed Zach raises a finger to his lips and turns to slide it open again, slowly, and just a crack so it wouldn’t be noticed, peering down at the screen as the monitor started to emit the loud thuds of heavy footfalls, and Zach shudders at the images that flash through his mind. Gray keeps pulling on his leg to ask what’s going on but he shakes his head and takes Gray’s hand instead, to comfort them both.

\---

The raptors are acting strange, hovering and tilting their heads in confusion while the footfalls get louder and louder. They back up slowly as the Indominus comes into view, watching the tiny things in front of it curiously, and Owen holds his breath, waiting for it to go on attack, but it doesn’t. Instead it opens Its giant maw and starts to let out a much throatier version of the raptor’s chirping calls, and Blue responds right away. “Something's wrong.” Barry says. “They're communicating.” Blue and the Indominus exchange a few more chirps, and realization dawns on Owen and Livy.

“I know why they wouldn't tell us what it's made of,” Owen breathes out.

“Why?” Barry asks.

“That thing's part Raptor,” Livy replies as the Indominus straightens and the raptors turn to face the group.

“What's taking them so long? Light it up!” Hoskins yells through the comms, Owen flinching at his grating voice.

“Engage!” a soldier yells out, and all of the iNGen operatives fire immediately, both the raptors and the Indominus roar, before the raptors ran off into the trees. Owen, Barry, and Livy shoot as well, then duck as an RPG shoots past them and towards the Indominus.

\---

Zach watches as the Indominus is flipped over by the RPG, but not killed, getting up and running back into the jungle.

“Oh my god,” Claire whispers, eyes glued to the screen as much as his are. He barely holds back a gasp, a hand coming up to cover his mouth while gunshots continue to ring out into the night, joined by the growls of the raptors.

\---

“Watch your six! Raptors got a new alpha!” Owen calls out as soon as the Indominus’ tail slithers out of view. They comb through the jungle slowly, twitching at every rustle of the leaves and scratch against tree bark. At times it’s so dark that Owen can barely see anything but the flashing red of the rifles’ scope lights, and tension coils in his gut hard. He feels a hand twist in the fabric of his vest and reaches back to stroke a thumb over it, knowing it’s his sister’s from the size; Livy has always had strangely small hands with short fingers despite being 5”11. Suddenly chaos erupts, raptors leaping onto people and dragging bodies, screams ringing through the air and mixing with growls and gunfire. Owen watches as person after person gets taken down by the girls he raised, cursing Hoskins to the pits of hell. This had been a gamble from the start and he knew, just knew it wasn’t the right idea, and now his proof was right before his eye, displayed in blood-spattered leaves and broken corpses. He comes to a halt as Echo pops out of the grass in front of him, and he keeps Livy behind him, holding her with one arm as the quietest of his girls approaches him with her head cocked. She lets out a gentle chirp that is meant to calm him and he breathes out in relief. Then he hears a whoosh of air and the ground underneath Echo implodes, sending Owen and Livy backwards in a plume of smoke and when he pops back up he sees the smouldering remains of Echo’s body. He hears Livy whimper behind him and wraps his arms around her as she begins to shake with tears.

“We gotta get outta here Livy,” Owen says, taking her hand and running back in the direction he hopes the vehicles are in. “To the vehicles now! Fall back!” He yells louder, trying to reach as many soldiers as longer. He turns as he hears footsteps dashing away in the trees, and catches the flash of a salmon shirt. He makes it to his bike as Barry dives into a log, which is immediately leaped upon by Blue, her talons digging into the bark, stopping only when Barry cries out.

“No! Blue!” She peers into the log, and Owen revs his engine then whistles, getting her attention. Livy tightens her arms around his waist as he takes off, Blue tearing off after him.

\---

“Oh, my God,” Claire whispers again, wiping at her eyes. Zach sits back in his seat, his eyes wide and leaking tears, and he doesn’t answer Gray’s pleas to know what happened. Gray opens up the window instead, peering over Claire’s shoulder to see the chaos on the monitor.

“Is everybody dead?”

“No, no, no. Everyone is fine,” Claire says, trying to reassure him with a brittle smile.

“Don't lie to him,” Zach says, his voice hollow, but firm.

“He's scared. It's okay to lie when people are scared,” Claire snaps back, and Zach shakes his head.

“I wanna go home,” Gray whimpers.

“You will bud, okay? I promise,” Zach says, running his hand through Gray’s hair to calm him down.

“Exactly. Tomorrow you will be home... and your mother will never let me see you again,” Claire says with a sigh that turns to a scream when a bloody hand smacks the driver’s side window.

“Get out of here! Go! They're coming!” Claire starts the engine and Zach pulls Gray back into his seat, the light in the back of the car turning on grabbing his hand as the man pulls open the doors to get in, only to be grabbed by a raptor that Zach thinks might be Charlie, the thing gnawing the man’s neck in the entry to the vehicle. Then Claire hits the gas and both raptor and man slide out, the doors flapping back and forth in opposite directions, never coming close enough together to close, and the light above them keeps flickering.

“Just hold on back there,” Claire says through the window. They hear her scream and glass shatter and they pray that nothing happens to her. Zach squints at a couple of vague shapes through the fog and flapping doors, then tightens his grip on Gray’s hand in panic, wildly searching for something to fend the oncoming raptors off with. He slowly stands, shakily moving over to two heavy canisters of gas, unhooking it from the wall and sliding it out the back as the raptors get closer. The top pops off, but it does nothing to deter them, Charlie merely stepping around the canister as it bumps along the road. The other raptor goes alongside the vehicle instead of attacking the boys, for which Zach is grateful, but when Claire swerves- he assumes to knock it aside- he nearly hits his head against a shelf on the wall. Once he rights himself Gray hands him one of the cattle prods, and Zach examines it to find the on switch, keeping it pointed in the direction of the raptor that gets closer to the opening by the second.

“Turn it on!”

“I don't know how.” It’s as he finds the appropriate switch that the raptor launches itself at the vehicle, clawing the metal floor and snapping its jaws at him. Light green with tiger stripes, definitely Charlie, Zach thinks as he sticks it with the prod, Gray helping him. They watch it fall into the road, bouncing and knocking the camera off of its head. “Sorry Charlie,” Zach whispers. He keeps one hand one the cattle prod and the other on Gray, getting him back up into his seat as their Aunt calls back through the window.

“Are you boys okay?”

“Yeah, did you see that?” Zach calls back exuberantly.

“I can't wait to tell Mom’” Gray says.

“Please, no. Do not tell your mother about that, ever.”

\---

Owen loses Blue somewhere in the jungle, but doesn’t stop to think about it, he just heads towards the sound of the emergency vehicle, watching the light on top of it rotate through the gaps in the leaves. Livy hasn’t spoken since Echo was killed, merely burying her face in her brother’s neck and sniffling occasionally, and Owen is getting pretty worried. He glides onto the road smoothly right behind the car, watching the doors flap. He gets as close as he can and sucks in air when he looks at Zach, hair dishevelled, cattle prod clutched tightly in one hand like a spear, the other linked with his brother’s, looking every bit the warrior.

“Owen!” Gray cries, waving, Zach’s eyes flicking up at his brother’s shout and locking with Owen’s brimming with a giddy smile.

“Owen!” Zach calls, his hand reaching out then retreating as if he wanted to touch but knew he couldn’t just yet. Owen can’t stand seeing him sad so he smiles instead, waving his hand, and Zach beams in return. Owen veers left, going up to the driver’s window to talk to Claire, concerned by the jagged remnants of it, but pleased to see that nothing was wrong with Claire herself.

“We gotta get indoors. Follow me,” he says, yelling over his engine. Claire nods, then grabs the emergency radio.

“Lowery, we're headed your way. Call in a chopper.” Owen nods at her and drives off, his sister’s arms tightening around his waist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bah! So much action... idk its more fun to read then write... I hope I handled the Claire talk properly, I wanted her to be looking out for him while not trying to control his decisions :) And maybe make Owen pee just a little bit. Also I thought it would be cool if Zach put an effort into knowing which raptor is which for Owen. And while they are definitely attracted, they ain't in love, they're just heading that way eventually with a firm basis being formed at the moment. Anyways I hope y'all like it!


	7. Making a Deal With the Tyrannosaurus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finally got this done! I've had a very emotional couple of days so I'm sorry I didn't finish earlier :)   
> Tw for a semi - graphic medical procedure.

The main gate is wrenched open when they pull through it, and the automated voice explaining the park amenities ringing through the speakers. The first thing Zach notices as he exits the vehicle is the stark sense of abandonment and loss that the barren park exudes. There are purses and pieces of clothing littering the ground along with shattered glass and smatterings of blood and puddles of rain water that couldn’t quite wash away the horror of what happened here earlier. Zach kneels to pick up a boot-scuffed stuffed lion, the stuffing worn thin in the arms, clearly much loved at one point, and now left behind in a struggle to live, to escape, a forgotten memory amongst the wreckage. He hands it to his brother, who frowns at him, but tucks the lion under his arm anyways, clutching Zach’s hand as Owen ushers them towards the learning centre, his left arm holding his sister to his side tightly.

“Come on, come on. Go inside.” Owen brushes Zach’s elbow with his calloused hand as they run and Zach smiles fleetingly at him, taking what comfort he can in the gesture before pushing through the swinging doors of the centre, the space made cavernous by its emptiness, the sounds of their footsteps and Claire’s heels echoing like a roar in the quiet of the atrium.

“Control room. That way.” Claire calls out, pointing down the correct hallway, leading them through the immaculate lab, dimly lit, and pure white. Everything seems abandoned see but they can hear people moving within. “They evacuated the lab.” Claire leads them through abandoned lab equipment and into a dark room, Zach slipping his other hand into Owen’s fully, forming a chain of bodies that reminds him of earlier with the pterosaurs. They walk past tanks full of bubbling solution and fully grown spines, and others containing fish and reptiles, of various colours and species, and Zach wonders what they are called for a brief moment, before Owen is tugging him forward, following Claire to the back of the room where a set of glass doors slide open, iNGen operatives placing canisters into boxes emitting liquid nitrogen, cold brushing over Zach’s arms and raising the soft hairs there as he shivers. “What are you doing?” Claire asks, confused.

“I'm afraid that's above your pay grade, honey,” Hoskins says as he strides into view, his slimy voice making Owen growl, and Zach squeezes his hand once, his lips quirking up when he sees Livy mirror the action on Owen’s other side.

“Where's Henry?” Claire says, more of a demand as her voice gets firmer; she is after all no one’s ‘honey’.

“Dr. Wu works for us.” Hoskins replies, the smile on his face becoming more smug by the second and Zach is gripped with the fierce desire to punch it off.

“That's not a real dinosaur,” Gray says, peeking around Owen and Zach at the computer monitor on the largest desk, currently displaying the Indominus.

“No, it ain't, kid. But somebody's gotta make sure that this company has a future Imagine... that one, a fraction of the size... deadly... intelligent... able to hide from the most advanced military technology.” Zach cannot believe that this man is still going on about using dinosaurs as lethal military weapons after the disaster that the experiment with the raptors had been. “A living weapon unlike anything we've ever seen. You see? Millions of years of evolution... what did we learn? Nature is the gift that just-- Oh, shit!” He screams as one of the raptors dashes into the room, right in front of him, snarling. Owen forces them behind him, backing them up slowly, but Zach can make out the raptors features over a well-muscled arm; forest green with white-blue lines streaking around its body in an intricate web that looks like veins of fat on a piece of meat.

“Delta,” Zach whispers, and the raptor cocks her head at him before turning back to Hoskins, snapping her jaws at him and making him flinch. Owen turns to him in surprise.

“You remembered?”

“Of course,” Zach replies with a quick smile that fades as Hoskins attempts to reason with the raptor circling in front of him, backing him into a wall with his hands outstretched in front of him.

“Easy. Easy, boy. Easy. Hey, hey.” Delta snarls as ‘boy’ leaves the man’s lips, and Zach can’t believe the man hasn’t been eaten yet. “We're on the same side, right? Right? Easy. Easy. I'm on your side.” Delta backs up a bit, and Hoskins briefly relaxes, and that’s when she charges, snapping the man’s thick arm in her jaws with ease while the man screams in pain. They take their chance to leave, running in the opposite direction, and the last glimpse of the room Zach has is a splatter of fresh blood against a tank, obscured by the white smoke of liquid nitrogen filling the room, before he’s being pulled along by Owen’s insistent hand. They starts down one hallway, but are stopped by Claire who points them in the opposite direction.

“No, this way. Come on,” she calls as Delta crashes through the glass and into the hallway, sliding onto her side and they run away as fast as they can, down a set of stairs and into the atrium. As they run through the holo-projectors Gray taps the machine, a dilophosaurus popping up with a screech, it’s fan out and quivering while it moves around Delta, who stops her pursuit of them to take stock of the new enemy.

“Come on. Come on,” Zach says to Gray, pulling on his arm to get him to run through the doors of the learning centre. They make it to the stairs and are immediately held up by Blue, who snarls at them. Zach moves Gray behind him as fast as he can, keeping him pressed to his back with his arm. Claire inches towards them, and snags Livy’s hand as well, happy to see her lips move in at least an attempt of a smile given that she has been grim since he first saw her again. Owen takes up a guard position in front of them, then swirls around when Delta approaches them from behind, and again when Charlie approaches from the side.

\---

“That's how it is, huh?” Owen says, and then move forwards, reaching out for blue, even when she snaps at him. “Easy. Easy. That's it.” He slides a hand along Blue’s jaw and she stills, letting him drop the clip to the camera mounted on her head. “That’s my girl,” he whispers stroking her, Charlie chirps at Livy, who pets her gently before a roar rings out over the empty park and the raptors whip around, forming a line in front of Owen and the others as the Indominus stomps into view. It exchanges growls with the raptors questioningly, as if asking why they hadn’t taken out the humans yet, and Owen steps back, trying to cover everyone else, and he feels slender fingers link through his, turning to see Zach staring ahead with wide eyes, scared but firm, hand ready to push Gray out of danger if he needs to. He turns back to Blue, who looks at him for orders and he smiles when Blue takes up a protective stance in front of him, snarling at the Indominus. Only to stare ahead in despair as the monster sends his best girl into a building, her tail shattering a window, with a single swipe of its hand and an enraged roar.

“Blue!” Livy screams, running over to the fallen raptor with no care for her safety, dropping on her knees beside it and running her hands over Blue’s sides to check for wounds. Charlie and Delta howl with rage and Owen emits a single whistle, setting his other girls on the monster with grim satisfaction. Charlie leaps first, tearing into the monsters back with her sharp fore claws and pointed teeth followed quickly by Delta tearing into its neck. The monster writhes trying to shake them off but fails, its tail whipping around them, forcing them to duck as they run towards a nearby gift shop. Claire ushers Zach and Gray over the counter then follows them, while Owen tries to go back for his sister, trying his level best to get a solid shot on the Indominus. He ducks behind a giant amber mosquito statue, reloading quick as he can, watching as Delta is thrown to the ground in front of him, and he growls low in his throat. No one hurts his girls.

\---

“24, 50. We need more,” Gray mutters from where he sits curled against Zach, nuzzling into his shoulder while Zach tightens his arm around Gray.

“More what?” Claire asks, her face screwed up in confusion.

“Teeth. We need more teeth,” Gray replies, and Zach sits up at the look of dawning realization on Claire’s face. She stands and goes to the wall of the gift shop, pulling the emergency box open and taking out a flare and a two-way radio, then turns to them, shaking.

“Okay, so, you just wait here. It's gonna be fine,” she whispers, and Zach nods even though he can see the fear in her eyes and hear the catch in her voice. She nods to herself once, then hops over the counter and runs as fast as she can away from the Indominus.

\---

Owen has no idea where Claire is running off to, but he can’t linger on it for long, and doesn’t, instead letting a few bullets loose into the Indominus’ side as Charlie digs her claws into the monster’s hip. The Indominus is tired of the raptor’s weak attempts to kill it however, and picks Charlie up in one clawed hand, tossing her through an open window and into an open flame stove, the fire licking up over her body before consuming her whole, and Owen barely holds back a scream of rage. He ducks as the Indominus’ tail scores straight through the amber statue, then runs, looking over his shoulder once to see if he can spot his sister. Instead he sees Delta being grasped in the monsters mouth, howling in pain as its teeth sink into her flesh and then it tosses her away she was nothing more than an annoying fly and he runs as fast as he can, leaping over the counter of the gift shop the boys were in. Gray cries out in surprise, but Zach covers his mouth and Owen silences him with a finger over his mouth. He crouches in front of them, close enough to feel their breath hot against his grimy sweaty skin, and count the freckles on the tip of Zach’s nose. He turns his head slowly as the Indominus’ rumbling gets louder behind him, then whips around when it hits the gift shop with the side of its head, sending merchandise tumbling down on top of them. Owen spreads his arms out over Zach and Gray pushing them back as it’s claw breaks through the thin outer wall, scraping against the concrete floor. They run into a different part of the shop, making themselves as small as they can against the wall, the monster’s clawed hand trying to reach them as best it can. Gray is screaming with tears running down his face and Zach is barely supressing his own, his distressed whimpers tearing into Owen’s heart like knives. With another swipe the monster’s claw almost scrapes across Gray’s face, catching on his pouch instead, slowly pulling him forward while Owen and Zach hold him back, tears running down his face in an endless stream. Zach reaches down with his other arm as far as he can, straining to reach the plastic buckle, and then he makes it and the ouch goes flying, the Indominus claw retracting with the force of tension released, and Gray curls into Zach with a whimper.

“Shh, I got you sweetheart, it’s okay. I promised remember?” Gray nods into his brother’s shoulder, clutching him tightly, and Owen reaches around Zach’s body to rub the boys back, eyes watching for the Indominus’ next move when he hears heels clicking on wet pavement, followed by a shattering sound and the roar of something completely different than the monster standing over their hideaway. He peers over the counter to find Claire lying sprawled on the ground underneath a T-Rex, drenched in sweat with fear in her eyes. He feels a hand clench in his vest and sees Zach right behind him, Gray clutching his hand his face wiped clean of tears. They watch in awe as the Tyrannosaurus latches onto the neck of the Indominus, making it roar in pain as he scratches and gun wounds it has sustained are torn into. The two colossal creatures rip into each other with fervor, their battle for dominance making a wreck of the park around them as they tear with teeth and claws at scaly flesh and winkled necks, blood pouring from the creatures in rivulets of crimson, their snarls ringing out into the night. Claire barely manages to crawl away, taking shelter behind a large formation of rocks as the Indominus gets the tyrannosaurus to the ground, pinning it with one clawed foot then dragging it by the neck with its teeth- right into the gift shop. Owen pulls Zach along as the T-Rex’s head smashes into the side of the shop, its jaw still snapping at the air and a growl shaking them to the bones vibrating through the pavement. Owen covers the boys with his body, protecting them from the debris flying through the air, only moving when he hears Claire scream “Run!” and then he’s on his feet, running towards Claire, her nephews hot on his heels, and his sister still nowhere in sight, despair crawling into the pit of his stomach beside the adrenaline, anger, and fear. They make it to Claire as the T-Rex is thrown to the ground again, crying out in pain, all of its attempts to stand rebuked by the monster above it. Finally, the tyrannosaurus lays its head down and the Indominus moves in for the kill, keeping it still with one foot, and opening its jaw around the tyrannosaurus’ neck. Zach hides Gray’s face in his chest and presses into Owen’s side, the hopelessness of the situation sinking in, all four of them struck with the realization that once the T-Rex is dead they will follow and the futility of their efforts is marked by tears streaming down their faces.

But suddenly, the Indominus stops, cocking its head to the side, and then Owen hears it too, the unique chirping sound of a velociraptor. And then Blue comes running in with Livy on her back, arms clutched tightly around the raptor’s neck. Her face is blanched and she looks terrified, but her face is set with determination, and she keeps her grasp on Blue, even when she speeds up on the attack, and leaps onto the back of the Indominus. Livy jumps onto the Indominus’ head, pulling a Knife from her belt and struggles to hold on as the monster tries in vain to throw Blue off of its back. She inches forward carefully and with a lucky lunge she plunges her knife into the Indominus’ eye, blood spurting over her hands as the thing roars, tossing itself side to side in order to be rid of her. With one violent shake Livy falls, catching her leg on the creature’s teeth on the way down, and Owen screams as she lands, crumpled and unmoving on the pavement. Before the Indominus has a chance to take revenge the tyrannosaurus rises, lunging at its neck with renewed vigor, using its momentum to send it crashing into a large screen, sending sparks raining down in a copper shower not far from where they’re standing and Zach pulls Owen along, ushering him to move forward even though his sister remains lying on the ground. Claire takes Gray’s hand and leads them through a secondary gift shop, only to be held up by Blue crashing through it after finally being thrown from the thing’s back, leaping right back into the fray as soon as she is able. They run as fast and as far as they can, avoiding clawed feet and whipping tails as best they can while the Indominus gets thrown into a building by the tyrannosaurus, littering the ground with heavy chunks of concrete, sparks, and bits of metal that it gets thrown down into, and the tables have clearly turned in the T-Rex’s favour. Blue leaps on the Indominus’ face as it rises, scratching at its undamaged eye, then gets thrown off, the Indominus acting more like a cornered dog then a vicious predator as it’s slashed and torn into again and again by the tyrannosaurus, forced backwards further and further each time until it gets thrown into the electric fence around the Mosasaur’s tank. It stands once more shakily, snarling as the tyrannosaurus and Blue corner it, making itself look bigger, until the mosasaur makes a great arc out of the water, snapping the Indominus up in its great jaws, pulling it into the water while it snarls and tries to wriggle out of the mosasaur’s grasp until with one final snarl and a flick of the mosasaur’s tail it disappears under the water and the battle is over. The tyrannosaur turns to Blue, who backs up under its scrutiny, and Owen wonders if they’ve just traded one monster for another, when it turns away tiredly, with barely a huff of breath, its sluggishly bleeding wounds dripping as it walks away. Blue waits until it is out of sight completely before darting over to where Livy still lay, crumpled and bleeding heavily from her leg wound. She nudges Livy with her head, then wiggles her head under her stomach gently, slowly lifting the woman onto her back and then carefully trotting her towards Owen who lifts her into his arms and lies her head in his lap. Blue lays down next to them, lying her head on Livy’s stomach and thankfully Owen can see her head rise and fall, meaning his sister is still alive. “What can we do?” Claire asks, backing away quickly when Blue snarls at her approach. Owen looks around himself helplessly, unable to find anything useful remotely close to him.

\---

“Gray, see if you can find that first aid kit in the gift shop,” Zach says, the boy following his orders with a nod. Then Zach approaches the three on the ground slowly, arm held out to Blue. “Easy Blue, easy girl.” The raptor doesn’t snarl, but cocks its head, as if debating whether or not Zach is a threat, “Do you remember me girl? We met earlier at the paddock, it’s all right.” Zach is centimetres from Blue’s face now, ready to snatch his hand back at any moment, but Blue merely chirps at him, leaning her face forward into his hand. “Good girl Blue, that’s a good girl.” He strokes the raptor a few times, then leans down to peer at Livy’s leg. The wound is deep, and he can see a sliver of white bone through the clotted blood and red flesh. He forces back his revulsion and sighs, then turns to Owen. “The cut is deep, it’ll need stitches that I can’t give her right now, but if I can clean it and get it wrapped with a splint I can save her leg and when we get to the boats the doctors can fix her properly.” He squeezes Owen’s hand, happy to get a feeble squeeze back, then looks up at his Aunt. “Aunt Claire I’m going to need you to find me two thin pieces of wood, one a little bit shorter than the other, okay?”

“Got it.” He kneels and starts to undo his belt, pulling the leather viciously through the belt holes to get it off as fast as possible, then pulls off his t-shirt to press to the wound so it stops bleeding, leaving him in a thin white undershirt. Gray runs back with the first aid and Zach flips through it to find what he needs, pulling out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a long roll of bandage, and butterfly clasps.

“Gray I’m going to need your belt too bud.” Gray nods and starts to pull his own little belt from his pants. “She’s most likely going to wake up from the pain so I’m going to need you to hold her down Owen, all right?”

“Are you sure that… I mean do you know what…”

“Do I know what I’m doing? Owen, I’ve been taking advanced first aid courses as my electives specifically so that I can handle things like this if they happen while I’m working on a car. I know you’re worried, hell, if this was Gray I’d probably be crying by this point, but I need you trust me and do what I say, alright?” Owen hesitates for a second then nods, too choked up to give a proper answer, and Zach breathes out in a relieved sigh, taking one of Owen’s hands and squeezing it in his own, absently pressing a kiss to his palm before checking Livy’s wound again. Once he’s sure the bleeding has stopped he tosses away his balled- up shirt and reaches for the rubbing alcohol, twisting off the cap before gently shooing Blue away, the raptor moving to pace a few feet away. “Alright Owen, I’ll need you to keep her legs from thrashing, you’re stronger than Gray. And Gray, you go hold her shoulders down, okay bro?”

“Sure Zach,” Gray says, switching out with Owen at Livy’s head, resting her head in his lap and placing one hand on each of her shoulders, while Owen takes his spot at her injured leg, grasping around her knee and her ankle to hold it in place. Zach uses his body weight to keep the other leg on the ground, then picks up the alcohol, and says “Now!”, beginning to pour the alcohol into the wound, liquid turning to white froth as it cleanses the flesh, and burning away bacteria. Livy’s eyes pop open with a scream, and she tries to thrash around but the pressure in her legs and shoulders won’t let her and she barely manages a wriggle. Blue snarls but stays away, scratching against the ground anxiously. Once Zach is sure the alcohol has done its work he grabs his shirt again and dabs the wound dry, fetching the roll of bandages. He wraps the bandage carefully around Livy’s leg, making sure to bind it tightly without cutting of her circulation, and fastens it with the butterfly clasps. “Claire, I need those sticks now!”

“I’m coming!” He hears distantly, followed by the clicking of heels, and then two vaguely stick like objects are being shoved into his hand. “Here, this is the best I could find.” He looks over the pieces of wood Claire gave him, both too long. He scrapes a hand over his face muttering swear words under his breath before he remembers the Swiss army knife he tucked into gray’s shoe earlier, just in case. He reaches across Livy’s now still body and into Gray’s shoe, pulling out the knife quickly and flipping open the sharpest attachment he could find, paring off the ends of the wood until he was satisfied with their length. He passed the longer one to Owen first, instructing him to hold it to the outside of her leg, and then to place the smaller one on the inside. Then he takes his belt, wrapping it around the wood and her leg just under her knee, adding a new hole to his belt in order to make it tight enough. He does the same with Gray’s belt a few centimeters above her ankle, then leans back, moving himself off of Livy’s leg as Blue comes to inspect his handiwork with a confused grunt. She sniffs at Livy’s leg, then moves back and rubs her scaly jaw against Livy’s cheek until the woman makes a snuffling noise and opens her eyes again, smiling up at the raptor in front of her.

“Hey Blue, what’s the matter girl?”

“Livy?” Owen says, his voice hushed, shuffling forward on his knees until his sister can see him without straining her neck.

“Hey Owen. What happened all I remember is pain and then I think I blacked out again.”

“That was me, sorry,” Zach says, grabbing a nearby ball of fluff that was once a large stuffed creature and tucking it under Livy’s head so Gray can move, the boy’s legs buckling like they had fallen asleep. He lets Gray sit between his legs afterward, and starts rubbing his calf muscles to get the pins and needles feeling out of Gray’s legs. “I had to clean your leg out with alcohol to prevent it from getting an infection, and then I bound it and put it in a splint. I wouldn’t have done it if there was any other way, but I’m sorry anyways. How does it feel?”

“Well, my heads still a bit fuzzy but I can feel a kind of twinge in my leg, it’s not unbearable, but it stings. And it’s kind of itchy too.”

“That’s because it couldn’t stitch it up after the alcohol wash, but don’t worry, we’ll get you to a doctor as soon as we can and they can fix you up properly,” Zach says with a smile, running his hand through her hair like he would with Gray’s.

Livy snorts at him but makes no move to pull away, “It’s like having a second Owen, except you have nicer fingers.”

“I resent that,” Owen says, but his smile contradicts his tone. He’s still looking down at Livy with something burning in his eyes, so Zach pushes Gray off of his lap and stands.

“How about you and I see if we can scrounge up some water bud? And lots of unhealthy park food.”

“Okay.” Gray accepts Zach’s hand up and lets him put an arm around his shoulders afterwards. Zach rubs a hand over Blue’s head while they walk away, and the raptor looks after him confusedly before following him to the nearest restaurant, sniffing about for something to eat that wasn’t cooked.

\---

“I think you’re being replaced bro.”

“Nah, she just thinks Zach is part of the pack now. Listen Liv, we need to talk about what happened out there. Like why the hell you thought riding a raptor into battle was anything but extremely reckless? God knows I’ve never been one to control you but you scared the shit out of me. What would have happened if you died? What about Mellie and the baby? You’ve got people you need to get back to, to be responsible for, and we couldn’t stand losing you, sweetheart.”

“I… I wasn’t really thinking I guess. Echo was my baby, she was just so quiet and peaceful, and when I lost her I lost control I guess. I let my emotions blind me and then I didn’t think anything through, and the adrenaline from the situation didn’t help. All I can really say to you is that I’m sorry.” Owen sighs and pulls Livy into a sitting position so he can wrap her up in his arms. Weak arms wrap around his waist and he feels Livy bury her face in his neck, her breath warm.

“Alright… but you are explaining this to Melinda.”

“Fine… Coward.”

“Everything alright?” a sheepish looking Zach asks, three bottles held in his hands.

“Yeah, everything’s fine Zach,” Livy replies with a smile.

“Awesome! Well, we managed to scrounge up some uncooked steaks for Blue, cold pizza for the rest of us with some cheese puffs.” Zach says, then holds out a bottle to Livy. “Water for my patient.” She accepts with a smile and downs half of the bottle in one go.

“Are you planning on downing the other two yourself?” Owen asks, gesturing to the bottles in Zach’s other hand.

“Nah. Here, I thought you might need something a little stronger than water.” Zach hands him a brown glass bottle, a type of beer imported from a nearby island, then sits down with the other one himself.

“Are you old enough for that?” Livy asks skeptically.

“I am pretty much everywhere but the states and that’s good enough for me.” He pops the caps off with a piece of metal lying around then takes a long drink, Owen’s eyes tracking the movements of his throat as he swallows. Then Gray and Claire come over with Pizzas and cheese puffs, Blue surprisingly absent.

“Where’s Blue?” Owen asks, searching for the raptor with panicked eyes.

“When Zach came over here she just ran off, I’m not sure why,” Gray replies.

“I see.”

“It’s probably for the best,” Claire sighs, then sets the food down, making sure everyone gets some. They enjoy their meal in relative silence, happy to be alive, but it feels more like commiserating loss then a celebration of being alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it and I'll try to get chapter 8 up as soon as I can :) Livy's pregnant girlfriend will make an appearance!


	8. Stick Together. For Survival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is-finally- the last chapter :( I'm gonna miss writing this one! Thankfully there shall be sequels and things so yay!!!! Hope you like it!

“You are a very lucky woman Miss Grady. If you hadn’t gotten this wound cleaned and bound right away we probably would have had to amputate.” The doctor gives Livy a very stern look, then continues wrapping her leg, now properly stitched up. “I hope you’ve properly thanked whoever did it.”

“Indeed I am doctor. Not to worry, I’ve thanked him and I’m sure my brother is going to ‘thank’ him quite thoroughly later.” Owen glares at his sister, but can’t help looking over at Zach curled up with a sleeping Gray not ten meters away from them, a soft smile on his face while he strokes the kid’s curly hair.

“Well, you’re all done now, but you can’t put any pressure on it for at least a month, alright?”

“Got it Doc,” Livy replies, accepting the crutches he hands her with a smile that turns to a grimace when she tries to find her balance with them. Owen steadies her with a hand on her upper arm, chuckling when she huffs at him, and steps back when she sorts herself out, walking over to the group of chairs they had claimed for their own. She perches on a seat beside Claire, who gives her a tired smile. Owen flops down on Zach’s unoccupied side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and nuzzling into his soft brown hair tiredly; it smelled like sweat and dust with the faintest hint of the vanilla shampoo they leave in the park’s hotel bathrooms.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m alright,” Zach says through a yawn. “I’m just glad Gray fell asleep without any trouble. I was worried he’d have nightmares.”

“Kids bounce back fast. He’s probably too bushed for nightmares anyways. I know I am.”

“Yeah.” Zach settles his head on Owen’s shoulder with another large yawn, and sleepily buries his face in Owen’s neck.

“I don’t mind you using me as a pillow to sleep you know.”

“Mhm,” Zach hums, and seconds later his breathing evens out into a peaceful rhythm. Owen lays his own head on top of Zach’s gently and looks over his sister and Claire, the two women talking softly, before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep himself.

\---

Owen jerks awake at the sound of a yell, shaking Zach off of his shoulder in the process. Zach scrubs at his eyes and looks around blearily before focusing on the man sitting beside him, looking equally tired and bewildered.

“Wha’s going on?” He slurs, turning his head to make sure Gray was still sleeping.

“I think Livy’s girlfriend’s here,” Owen says, waving his hand in the vague direction of the chairs in front of them. Zach blinks his eyes a few times to clear the last of the sleep fog from his vision and then blinks again when he takes in Livy’s girlfriend. The first thing he notices is the round swell of her stomach from her pregnancy, the second is how pretty she is; with skin like rich caramel, tight black curls in a shoulder-length halo about her face, and soulful dark eyes currently wet with tears as she examines her girlfriend’s leg. He looks away when they start to kiss, giving them their privacy, and lays his head back on Owen’s shoulder. With a final kiss to Livy’s forehead the woman turns around, getting to her knees in a short struggle to hug Owen. “Hey Mellie.”

“Owen. I’d ask if you’re alright but you seem rather cozy at the moment,” She replies with a snicker before turning to Zach. “I’m Melinda Davis; it’s nice to meet you.”

“Zach Mitchell, it’s nice to meet you too.” Zach shakes her offered hand, and then nudges Owen when she tries to stand on her own in order to get him to help her. Owen rolls his eyes, but stands and holds her around the waist as she stands up then gives her a proper hug.

“Do either of you know where I might find my cousin Barry?” Zach shakes his head, but Owen nods.

“I think I saw him by the medical tents. He’s been trying to get some of the worse off people to a doctor.”

“Alright, then I’m going to go find him and maybe I can get Liv to explain her leg to me while we’re at it.”

“Okay Mel, be careful alright?” Owen replies, eyeing both her belly and Livy’s leg and crutches.

“Always!” Owen sits back down with a sigh and watches Livy slowly get up and hobble away on her crutches Mellie cradling her stomach beside her as they carefully maneuver around bodies. Zach smiles at his protective behaviour, and then snuggles back into his side, comfortingly warm and solid, with a small yawn that ends in a little squeak. They both laugh at it as they settle back into the positions they were in earlier.

“Zach?”

“Yeah?”

“I want to say thank you. For helping my sister when you did, and I wish there was some way I could show you how grateful I am, but I suck at big statements, and I uh… Shit I messed this up didn’t I?”

“No, you’re doing fine,” Zach says, turning his head upwards to press a kiss to Owen’s scruffy cheek with a smile the man can feel. “How about we take a rain check on the thanks until you can take me out properly, hmm?”

“Rain check, okay. Yeah, sounds good.”

“Perfect,” he replies, burrowing his face into Owen’s neck. He lets his eyes close and tries to block out the ignoring the buzzing hum of noise flooding the warehouse in an effort to slip back into the comforting dark veil of sleep. And he almost manages it too, blurry images of nonsense dreams flittering through his mind as his awareness of reality slowly fades away before Gray’s scream rings through his memory and he sits upright in seconds, reaching out for the closest part of Gray he can find and then sighing in relief when he can feel a sleep-slow pulse against the tips of his fingers and warm skin under his palm. He pulls Gray in closer so he can tuck the boy’s head in his chin, then relaxes back into Owen’s side, the older man looking at him in concern.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just a bad dream…”

“Are you sure?” Zach nods, and Owen wraps an arm tight around his shoulders, pressing kisses to the top of his head that make Zach smile shakily. He reaches a hand up to the side of- the miraculously still sleeping- Gray’s head methodically running his fingers through the slightly matted curls there until they smoothen out, soft but still a little greasy from sweat and dirt, nothing to do but wait. It was not until the rays of the sun were filtering in at top strength through that the majority of family members and friends that were able to fly in to the Jurassic World travel port warehouse. They watch tearful reunions, faces fall as some realize they will not be retrieving all of their loved ones, and others frantically looking around for theirs. Zach shakes Gray awake, the boy blinking sleep from his eyes with a wide yawn that stretches his face adorably, and the both of them stand, craning their necks to look for their parents. They search fruitlessly for almost half an hour until Claire stands up and points to a spot close by.

“Oh, my God, it's your parents. It's your parents.” Claire reaches their mom first, pulling her into a hug, tears running down both of their faces. Then she steps aside to let Karen approach her kids. She takes one look at the blood staining Zach’s shirt, and the small nicks and splodges of dirt streaking their faces and starts sobbing. Zach quickly wraps his arms around her, tucking her head under his chin and trying to comfort her while their dad checks on Gray.

“Oh, baby. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?” His mom chokes out.

“Yeah, mom, I’m fine. I promise.” His Mom’s arms tighten around his stomach briefly before she pulls back, holding him by the shoulders.

“My beautiful strong boy.” Zach blushes and huffs at her praise, though he secretly enjoys it. Then his mom is replaced by his dad, pulling him into a brief hug and then holding him still so he could look him over.

“Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. The uh, blood isn’t mine, I had to use my shirt to stop someone else’s bleeding.” His father nods, then claps a hand on his shoulder, nodding once before going back to sit with Gray and Karen. Zach runs a hand through his hair and sighs, then steps back to find Owen by an open doorway with his aunt, the latter wrapped in a large blanket that almost manages to make Claire Dearing look small.

\---

Owen watches Zach and Gray reunite with their parents fondly, standing apart from the crowd with Claire, taking in the sea salt breeze blowing in through the open entryway. He can see Livy and Melinda helping Barry make his rounds amongst the many wounded, waving when they look over at him. He startles when he feels arms wrap around his waist from behind, surprised to find Zach behind him.

“Shouldn’t you be with your parents?” Owen asks, linking his fingers with Zach’s over his stomach.

“They’re busy with Gray right now, he needs them more than I do right now.” Owen peers at Zach’s parents hovering over Gray, hastily looking away when Mrs. Mitchell looks at him and her son suspiciously, not quite ready for that conversation yet. He untangles their limbs and pulls Zach beside him though, tucking him into his side as they turn to look out over the water.

“So, what do we do now?” Claire asks, looking more lost then Owen has ever seen her, so used to her being sure in everything she does.

“Probably stick together. For survival.” Owen replies, wrapping his other arm around Zach as well with a reassuring smile. A simple statement promising everything will be all right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conclusions aren't really my strong point so I'm sorry if this isn't as good as the rest of the fic... it just wasn't flowing like the rest did.  
> Related Links:  
> Playlist for this fic: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfy9bugK_LjmsbY53g4LlmdaOFgRSRk0s  
> Cover art for this fic: http://themutesinger.tumblr.com/image/126485758331  
> :Zachwen Playlist:http://8tracks.com/themutesinger/too-good-to-be-true  
> Anyways I hope you enjoyed the fic and thank you to everyone who read it, commented on it, and gave it kudos! Bless you all :D


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